I ran back down and searched the island, clambering down the cliff face to see if perhaps she’d gone looking for seals on her own and slipped. There was no sign of her. No trace.
Nothing.
Finally, I lifted the phone and called the police.
“My daughter,” I managed to gasp. “My youngest daughter Clover isn’t here. She’s gone.”
LUNA, 2021
I
“This is fucking insane,” Cassie says, opening two bottles of non-alcoholic beer in the kitchen. “I was literally talking about you the other day. And now you’re here, sitting on my sofa. I can’t get over it.”
They are in Cassie’s croft on the west of the island. It used to belong to her father, Finn, and Luna vaguely remembers playing in the kitchen. Cassie has redecorated since—it’s charming, with a white living room, large open fire, and dramatic views of green fields rolling down to blue sea. Clover is already asleep on the sofa, worn out from the tumult in the car. Luna is still shaken after the confrontation with Brodie. The minute she stepped inside Cassie’s home, she felt tearful, a release of everything that had happened before.
Cassie hands Luna a bottle and sinks down in the armchair opposite. “How long has it been?” she says, dragging a hand through her short blonde hair. “You were all here in the autumn of 1998. So . . . twenty-two years?”
“You were talking about me?” Luna asks.
Cassie nods. “There was this headline in the newspaper about a girl called Sapphire. It made me think of the three of you. I told the guy I work with about the summer I met you. You were only here for a couple of months but I never had a best friend like you, before or since.”
Cassie’s words are like a warm blanket across Luna’s shoulders. “Was the headline about Saffy?” she asks.
“Oh, no—about a different girl. She just had the same name. They found her here last September.”
Luna frowns. “Found her here?”
“I’m taking it Saffy has never been found?” Cassie says sadly.
Luna shakes her head.
“God. I’m so sorry.”
Cassie passes her phone to Luna. There’s a news article dated 22 September 2020. Teenage girl found on Lòn Haven still unclaimed.
“Apparently she was found on the bay,” Cassie says, sitting next to Luna. “Nobody had seen her before. Nobody reported her missing. She wasn’t from the island at all. No family or friends here.”
Luna’s eyes fall on the name amidst the text of the article. The missing girl is 15 years old, and says her name is Sapphire. She does not have a local accent and claims to be from northern England. Anyone with information should call the following number.
“What happened to her?” Luna asks.
“I don’t know. It couldn’t be Saffy, though, could it?”
Luna checks the date of the article again before handing the phone back. “I suppose not.”
Cassie has been living in Edinburgh for the last five years with her wife, Lucia, and is temporarily based in Lòn Haven for two months to work on a restoration project for Historic Scotland. Prior to Edinburgh, she had been living in Auckland, New Zealand. A Kiwi twang slides into her voice every now and then.
“What about you?” Cassie says, nodding at Luna’s bump. “When are you due?”
Luna rubs her belly, feeling a little spine pressing against her palm. “New Year’s Eve.”
“Husband? Wife?”
Luna shakes her head. “Neither. I’ve been with Ethan for a long time. The plan was that we’d get married, but . . .” She tails off, biting her lip.